Head injury-induced heterotopic ossification (HO) develops at vicinity of joints and in severe cases requires surgical intervention. Our previous study demonstrated high mRNA levels of osteocalcin (OC), type 1 collagen (COL1), osteonectin and RUNX2/CBFA1 in osteocytes and lining osteoblasts from non-evolutive HO compared to equivalent healthy cells from the proximal femoral shaft of patients receiving prosthesis. This allowed a first molecular characterisation of this pathological bone. The aims of this study is to extend the analysis to 10 more genes and determine those involved in the high OC mRNA level observed in pathological bone samples...

Heterotopic ossification (HO) frequently occurs after brain injury. Recently, we found that leptin levels were decreased in the serum of patients with HO. Data suggest two mechanisms mediating leptin effects: a central suppressive mechanism acting via the beta(2)-adrenergic system and a direct stimulatory action starting when leptin binds to its receptors in osteoblastic cells. In this study, we analyzed leptin and beta(2)-adrenergic receptors mRNA expression in osteocytes originated from normal or heterotopic bone biopsies to investigate whether direct or indirect pathway signaling might be implicated in this pathological bone formation...

The O(2) evolution activity of immobilized chloroplast membranes in different environments (albumin-glutaraldehyde matrix, urethane polymer and alginate beads) is presented. As previously shown, the stability of photosystem II (PS II) of lettuce thylakoids appears to be increased by the immobilization process. For understanding such stability, some spectral investigations have been made about the energy distribution between the immobilized photosystems. The low-temperature (77 K) fluorescence emission and photoacoustic spectroscopy are well adapted to solid particle studies...

Immobilization of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) thylakoids has been performed by using glutaraldehyde and bovine serum albumin. Confirming previous reports, a stabilization of the O(2) evolution activity of the photosystem II (PSII) under storage and functional conditions has been observed. The present work is devoted to the role played by mono-and divalent cations, during the immobilization process itself, on the O(2) production. Four types of measurements have been employed: kinetic measurements, low temperature (77 K) fluorescence emission, photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy, and electron microscopy observations...

Runx2 is a key regulator of osteoblast-specific gene expression and controls the expression of multiple target genes during osteoblast differentiation. Although some transcriptional targets for Runx2 are known, it is believed that the osteogenic action of Runx2 is mediated by additional target genes, and increasing studies are performed in order to identify such Runx2-responsive genes. To identify genes following the inhibition of Runx2 in osteoblastic cell line, SaOs-2 was stably transfected with a dominant negative mutant of Runx2 (Deltacbfa1) under the control of a strong promoter...

Current knowledge about mechanisms controlling osteoblast-specific gene expression has led to the identification of Cbfa1 as a key regulator of osteoblast differentiation. Several essential questions about this transcription factor remain to be addressed, e.g., the nature of stimuli that may modulate its own expression, as well as the genetic repercussions following alterations in Cbfa1 levels. To identify such Cbfa1-responsive genes, the SaOs-2 cell line was stably transfected with a dominant negative mutant of Cbfa1 (DeltaCbfa1)...

The influence of dexamethasone on rabbit bone marrow stromal cells differentiation was studied by screening the action of dexamethasone on gene expression. Using differential display, we observed some differential amplifications. The use of five of thirteen different primers combination allowed to identify one or more differential bands. One of them was identified as moesin gene. Real-time PCR confirmed a significant reduction of moesin gene expression following dexamethasone treatment. The decrease of expression for this protein, involved in cytoskeletal organization, could explain the effects of dexamethasone treatment on bone marrow stromal cells differentiation...

The role of micrometer and submicrometer surface roughness on the interaction of cells with titanium model surfaces of well-defined topography was investigated using human bone-derived cells (MG63 cells). The early phase of interactions was studied using a kinetic morphological analysis of adhesion, spreading and proliferation of the cells. By SEM and double immunofluorescent labeling of vinculin and actin, it was found that the cells responded to nanoscale roughness by a higher cell thickness and a delayed apparition of the focal contacts...

Heterotopic ossification (HO), a possible complication of head injury, develops in sites where it is not normally present like at the vicinity of joints. It may cause pain, decrease motion and in severe cases complete joint ankylosis requiring surgical intervention. To our knowledge, no study has been made to analyze HO at the molecular level on human biopsies, whereas its etiology remains to be determined. We defined a procedure of cell fractionation from bone resections and developed quantitative RT-PCR to compare genetic expression patterns between human normal osteoblasts and heterotopic ossification forming cells...

For the clinical application of cultured human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), cells must have minimal contact with fetal calf serum (FCS) because it might be a potential vector for contamination by adventitious agents. The use of human plasma and serum for clinical applications also continues to give rise to considerable concerns with respect to the transmission of known and unknown human infectious agents. With the objective of clinical applications of cultured human MSCs, we tested the ability of autologous plasma, AB human serum, FCS, and artificial serum substitutes containing animal-derived proteins (Ultroser G) or vegetable-derived proteins (Prolifix S6) to permit their growth and differentiation in vitro...

The influence of culture conditions on the extracellular matrix (ECM) protein expressions of rabbit bone marrow stromal cells has been studied. The focus was on the effects of two kinds of sera, fetal calf serum (FCS) and Ultroser, on cells treated with dexamethasone. The induction of osteoblastic differentiation by dexamethasone addition is confirmed, particularly when cells are cultured in FCS. Bone marrow stromal cells produce alkaline phosphatase positive CFU-F and produce ECM with some mineralized nodules...

The influence of temperature on cellular fatty acid composition and on heat stress tolerance was studied in the two species of Pectinatus, an anaerobic gram-negative bacterium. Cellular fatty acid (FA) patterns were determined for Pectinatus species cultivated in MRS medium at various defined conditions of temperature and pH. Our study shows that fluctuations of growth temperature and pH induced important changes in the ratio of unsaturated FAs (UFAs) to saturated FAs (SFAs). The major differences in the FA composition as a function of growth temperature concerned C15:0 and C17:0 for the SFAs and C15:1 and C17:1 for the UFAs...

BACKGROUND: The standard treatment for Sweet's syndrome (acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis) is oral corticosteroids. Despite a good initial response, the disease is characterized by frequent relapses. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to test the therapeutic effect of the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug indomethacin on Sweet's syndrome. METHODS: All patients with Sweet's syndrome observed during a 4-year period were given indomethacin, 150 mg/day for the first week and 100 mg/day for two additional weeks...

Epidemiological data were collected for 219 cases of neonatal septicaemia and/or meningitis. In two thirds of the cases the diagnosis was made in newborns aged 4 days or less. Risk factors related to the delivery, to the health status of the infant at birth and to pregnancy were mentioned respectively in 74, 63 and 36% of the cases. Half of the newborns given antibiotics in prophylaxis received an association of aminopenicillin and aminoside. In more than four fifths of the cases the bacterium was only isolated from blood...

A clinical case resembling cutis verticis gyrata due to a cerebriform intradermal nevus (CIN) is reported. Such a lesion is diagnosed on clinical and histopathological grounds. Some aspects are particularly discussed, such as complications of CIN, including the potential development of malignant melanoma, prognosis and different possibilities in the therapeutic approach. It is stressed that early diagnosis, broad surgical excision and plastic reconstruction are major issues. Different techniques of surgical extirpation and scalpflap reconstruction are presented...